This invention relates to automatic carton or crate filling machines and more particularly to a novel and improved machine for filling empty packing cartons or crates which places a predetermined number of containers such as liquid filled plastic bottles into a carton or crate.
As used herein and in the claims, the term case or carton includes any type of packing containers constructed, for example, of cardboard, wood, plastic or other suitable material. Further, while the specification of the shown embodiment is particularly drawn to plastic milk or water bottles, the objects which are placed into the cartons by this invention may be of a variety of different objects, but at this point in time, it is believed that the best mode intended is bottles.
Heretofore many different types of machines have been used to place objects into packing cartons, all of which include very complicated mechanisms and machinery which include machines which actually pick up the bottles and place them into the carton. All of these prior art systems are quite complicated and thus expensive.
Due to the recent advent of the use of plastic bottles, and especially those bottles manufactured of relatively thin plastic materials and basically the one-gallon bottle, a need has arisen for a machine which delicately handles these bottles. This is especially true when the bottle to be packed into a case is already filled.
A feature of the present invention includes providing a simple, inexpensive case filling machine which automatically and efficiently accomplishes the needs now present in the industry.